Czech – gamblers are playing almost unlimited

The New Hazard Act has imposed a number of obligations since January. But it is toothless. Polo-gambling games are bypassed by quizzomats, which the ban does not impose on banners because they do not work on the principle of chance. And so they did not give up.

The new law has introduced a number of obligations since January. The player has to register at the entrance, show a citizen, after two hours has a mandatory break. The casino has to offer betting limits and must be closed in the morning.

A couple of streets, however, the same player walks into an old familiar playroom where he does not want anything, and lets him lose hundreds or thousands in a minute. How is it possible? In the unregulated semi-gaming hall, there are so-called quizzomats.

You only differ from slot machines by asking a player a question in a few minutes. This was done in the past days by the reporters of MF DNES in the Prague Devil’s Playhouse, where the quizzomats are.

The game room is in the unobtrusive room behind the bar. Nobody asks for a citizen to enter and the business attracts a non-stop opening hours. Inside is sitting a senior engaged in a game that quickly comes up with money. The Lord holds a two-handed hand in the hand, then disappears into the bowels of the slot machine. The screen shows the question “Catherine Neumann is …” A skier, an artist, or an actress? Surely the skier, the man responds and plays on.

No even buttons, as a layman of a gambler. No, Grandpa just sits and the slot leaves the game itself. He just watches his credit drop by two hundred crowns. The device even has a table attached that “the device is not for gambling but for entertainment.” Quiz maker manufacturers are arguing that the machines do not fall under the Hazard Act because they do not work on a random basis. And so they did not give up.

The state has to deal with each operator of the quizzomat separately and also needs an expert opinion on each type to break the counterparty’s defense.

“When someone talks about the cloud of illegal gambling in the Czech Republic, ninety percent of them are quizzomats,” says Petr Müller of the General Directorate of Customs.

The Finance Minister, who has a competence against gambling law, thinks customs should deal with quizzomats.

“Whether it is or not gambling depends on individual cases on the assessment of an administrative body, which is a customs administration in the case of quizzomat,” said Minister Alena Schillerová.

The expansion of quizzomat records also the fact that legal boxes are rapidly declining. Since the beginning of the year to date, according to the Ministry of Finance, a total of 20,000 vending machines have been issued, with a valid permit of 20,780 boxes. Most of them will expire in March, and the issuance of permits for operators is yet to blame.

“The licensing process has failed and many players have nothing to play on. Legal operators pay the cost of renting space or employees, but they do not have sales until new devices are allowed, “says Andrej Čírtek of the Gaming Industry Union, associating large device operators. The Ministry is arguing that some operators did not provide the complete documentation necessary for the granting of a permit.

There is one other thing to understand. Gambling owners suffer quizzoms just because they are going to circumvent the law. Gambling clients would rather prefer a conventional slot machine because the knowledge issues are harassing.

Which devices and games are allowed can be found, for example, at map-hazardu.cz, where Janusz Konieczny from the Anti-Corruption Fund is continuously adding on the basis of data from the Ministry of Finance.

On the web, he also collects information from the public on illegal gambling sites and hand them over to customs officers.

“As for the classic illegal gaming room, the operator gets a fine quite quickly, and he can be charged and convicted. But with the quiz, it’s a long elbow, “says Konieczny, who has spent two years discovering illegal gambling.

According to him, the quizzamates are dominating over other tricks on how to set up a polling-gaming venue. Before that, they were mainly different “clubs” where the owner only played scout players.

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